Virgin Australia Business Class Airbus A330-200 Cabin Overview

As reported in back in February the new Virgin Australia
Business will be put into service with two Airbus A330-200 from 26 May 2011
between Sydney and Perth. Today we got a firsthand look at this new cabin and
seats.

Virgin Australia
Business Class SeatsIn total there 27 business class seats across 4 rows in a 2-2-2 seating
configuration for the 1st row and a 2-3-2 seating configuration in the
remaining 3 rows.

The Virgin Australia Business Class seat on their Airbus A330-200 aircraft

First row center aisle in Business Class on the Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200

Virgin Australia Business Class seat in a full reclined sleeping position

These seats are
reclined rather than lie flat and they are very comfortable, personally I would
find it more acceptable on a 5 hour flight from Sydney to Perth, for someone
like myself that has trouble sleeping in on most flights I am sure I could more
than a few hours shuteye on a 5 hour flight to Perth with the help of Virgin
Australia’s noise cancelling headphones that are provided for the flight.

In-flight
Entertainment SystemVirgin Australia’s In-flight entertainment system in Business Class is a
multi-channel system seat back LCD display system, I did put the question how
many channels the system supports but the product manager was unable to reveal
this, however as these aircraft have been leased from Emirates the In-flight system
is the same that is found on other Emirates Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which is
a Panasonic Avionics system that supports up to 40 movies, 15 TV, 22 Audio and
18 interactive games. Size wise the IFE screen measures 16.5cm (6.5 Inch)

Luke Mangan Business
Class in-flight diningLuke Mangan’s philosophy behind the new menu was
to source the finest, freshest local and Australian ingredients and showcase
them with a clean and contemporary twist. Renowned for his modern creations,
the new designer menu across economy and business class also highlights his
French classical training and Asian influences, married with simple, fresh and
clean flavors.

Overall Virgin Australia have done a
great job in Business however final judgment should be reserved until after it
goes into service as the cabin and seats are only one half of a great Business
Class experience.